Coach Mike Shula's Auburn Game Week Press ConferenceObviously this is an exciting week for our football team. We know it's going to be an incredible atmosphere down there. We've gotten with our seniors; this is their last go round. They feel like they have a lot to prove.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Transcript of Opening Comments and First Five Questions

OPENING COMMENTS: "Obviously this is an exciting week for our football team. We know it's going to be an incredible atmosphere down there. We've gotten with our seniors; this is their last go round. They feel like they have a lot to prove. Our football team does, and to have to do it against a team like Auburn is going to be a great challenge for us. It was two years ago when we went down there; it was my first time; it was an awesome atmosphere. This game, like I said before, is great for the state of Alabama and great for college football. We are happy to be a part of it. We have to have a real good week of preparation and get ourselves ready to go."

"This is the first time this team has had to bounce back from a loss; can you address how that's different and how you get them past the last game and to the next?""Well it's easier knowing you're going to play your state rival for sure to get past last week. That was a tough loss, an emotional loss. We've got good leadership; we can rely on that. The main thing we talked about Sunday night after the kids left practice was, let's move on; don't let one game cost you two. Let's have the right mindset and preparation through the week and understand how big a win this could be for everybody."

"Do you think momentum plays a factor in this game, in that they are coming in on a high note and you guys are coming after a loss?" "Maybe a little bit. This game I've learned you can almost throw last week out the window. Yeah, we would have liked to be coming off a big win ourselves but I think our guys will get focused for this regardless of what had happened last week and we'd be saying the same thing we are saying now. You have to move on think about this week and forget about last week."

"Do you have to say anything when this game is on the schedule? Is there anything that needs to be said?"That's a good question. Probably more so to the younger guys, for sure (to) the new guys coming in that are from out of state, like I learned my first year. But to the older guys, not really"

"What is the specific thing you think Auburn's defense does best?""Well they get to the football fast. They've got real good speed and quickness. They rush the pass real well. They do a good job blitzing, too. They bring a wide variety of blitzes. They understand their assignments and do a good job"

"How was your center play with the new center last week, and are you going to do anything different on the offensive line that you can talk about?" "Our personnel you mean? We'll keep it the same. At the center spot, Taylor did a nice job at times, but he was like some other guys on offense. At times we didn't play our best; we weren't quite consistent enough. One of the things that we looked at, and I said it to you guys and you're probably tired of hearing it, but it's really true and you have to keep it in perspective. You have one or two guys making a mistake on a missed play although maybe they played a lot of other plays really well. One or two guys missed plays, and then all of a sudden it looks bad. Offensive football can look bad in a hurry that way. The first half we were pretty consistent. In the second half we weren't in that regard as far as having all eleven guys on that play doing their job."